Free at Last: Profiles of Courage

Ufree

On 18 October 2011, the first 477 of an eventual 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were released in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured five years previously. Of the Palestinians who have or will be freed, 280 were serving life sentences and 27 were women. Most had been deprived of family visits for years, and had suffered repeated torture, sentences to solitary confinement and refused access to education. The release came as more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners staged a hunger strike to protest the harsh conditions. While the release is good news welcomed throughout the occupied territories, some families will still be separated. Of the first 477 prisoners released, 110 were returned to their homes in the West Bank and 203 were deported to Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and Syria, which agreed to take prisoners who Israel insisted, must not be allowed to return home. The rest (131) were freed in Gaza -- even if they were not originally from there. The agreement is the highest “price” Israel has ever paid for a single soldier. Israel places a high value on Israeli life and freedom, and assigns little worth to Palestinians. Thus, captures and exchanges are the only way to win their release. Approximately 5,300 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails, waiting to be freed. Here are the stories of just two of the released Palestinians: Ayman Kafishah; jailed since April 1997: On April 5, 1997, Ayman was arrested by Israeli security forces and immediately transported to Ha Shikmah Prison in Israel. According to testimony he later delivered to the UN Commission on Human Rights and publicized by B’tselem, an Israeli human rights agency, Ayman was then interrogated nonstop for 36 hours. Tactics used to coerce him to talk included: Violent shaking. Forced squatting and sitting in painful, contorted positions for prolonged periods. Wrist cuffs tightened until blood flow was cut off. Sleep deprivation. Refusal of permission to use the toilet. Threats to arrest and torture his family members. Ayman was denied the right to consult with his lawyer for a full month, and was not allowed any family visits for the entire 14 years he was jailed. His daughter, Sarah, knew of her father only through photographs. Although Ayman was freed in the prisoner exchange for Shalit, his forced separation from his wife and daughter continues. He was immediately exiled to the Gaza Strip, and his family was denied permission to travel there to see him from the West Bank. They have seen him only on TV, waving to the crowds in Gaza. “I was awakened (on Oct. 18, 2011) to the sound of my mother calling me,” recalls Sarah Kafishah. “I got up and rushed towards my mother, who was sitting in front of the TV. My mother knelt on the ground and thanked God.” Sarah and her mother said in a statement that they thank the Palestinian negotiators and the Egyptian mediators for making the exchange happen. They also called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to allow Ayman’s family to leave the West Bank to visit him in Gaza. A 14-year separation is long enough. Obada Saeed Bilal; jailed since April 2002: A native of Nablus in the West Bank, Obada is the son of Saeed Bilal. Obada was studying journalism at Najah University when he was seized, during the Israeli military campaign on the West Bank codenamed "Defensive Shield." He was charged with being a supporter military activities, It was just two weeks after his marriage to Nelly AlSafadi. Obada was sentenced to 11 years in jail and subjected to intensive torture, along with a number of stays in solitary confinement -- one time longer than six months. Says Obada: “I endured many rounds of continuous interrogation, during which the physical and psychological torture was so harsh my body became exhausted and I lost consciousness many times.” Obada had always struggled with poor eyesight, but he went totally blind by the time he was released from prison. His family has paid a heavy price to the Israeli occupying force. Obada’s wife, Nelly and three brothers also served time in Israeli prisons. Nelly, who was released several months before Obada, was arrested at a roadblock while trying to enter Ramallah. Although Obada was later moved to the same prison in which she was being held, they were never allowed to be together.  Although Obada was freed in the prisoner exchange for Shalit, he was immediately exiled to the Gaza Strip and his wife Nelly was denied permission to travel there to see him. Both families are urging the international community and all human rights groups to put pressure on Israel to strop its daily integration to Palestinians on check points and crossing borders and it must immediately allow those families access through crossing borders.

Occupation transfers Sheikh Hasan Yousef and his son to administrative detention

[ 08/11/2011 - 09:55 PM ] 

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation authorities on Tuesday morning transferred Sheikh Hasan Yousef and his son Owais to administrative detention for six months at Ofer prison near Ramallah.
The family of Sheikh Yousef said that the occupation authorities informed him and his son, who arrested eight days ago, that the Israeli occupation intelligence decided to transfer them to administrative detention for six months based on “secret evidence".
The family further said that Sheikh Youssef underwent a few rounds of interrogation on the pretext that he organised a number of activities for Hamas in Ramallah, threatening to kidnap occupation soldiers to exchange with Palestinian captives, supporting the resistance on the Shalit exchange deal and organising functions in support of the freed captives.

They further said that when they could not charge him and try him, they decided to transfer him to administrative detention, based on secret evidence, that neither Sheikh Yousef, nor his lawyer are allowed to see.
His son Owais, who only got married ten days before his arrest, was also transferred to administrative detention after dropping an indictment list prepared by the occupation police in which he was accused of participating in the legislative elections, only to discover that he was in detention at Negev desert prison at the time of elections.

Zionist court refuses to release Muna Qaadan

[ 28/10/2011 - 09:55 PM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- The Zionist military court in Salem refused to release Muna Qaadan (39), from Arraba in Jenin district, on bail despite the fact that she was brought before court previously on the same charges. Local sources said that the occupation authorities refused to release despite the fact that she denied the charge that she works for a charity, which is allegedly associated with the Islamic Jihad, in reference to Bara'a Society for Muslim Young Women. This is the same charge she was arrested on previously and then released. Qaadan has been arbitrarily arrested since the end of last May, only days after the arrest of her brother Sheikh Tareq Qaadan from their home in Arraba.

PA security kidnaps son of prisoner Abul Heija

[ 07/09/2011 - 11:04 AM ]

JENIN, (PIC)-- Security forces from the Palestinian authority (PA) on Monday violently raided the house of senior Hamas official and prisoner in Israeli jails Jamal Abul Heija and kidnapped his 18-year old son Hamza. Informed sources told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that armed men from the preventive, intelligence and national security agencies broke into and ransacked the home of Abul Heija shortly after his son Hamza received on the morning of the same day a summons from the preventive security agency in Jenin city. The preventive security agency kidnapped Hamza last month after he responded to a summons for interrogation and was released a week later on bail. All four sons of Hamas official Abul Heija have been kidnapped many times by the PA security agencies in the context of their cooperation with the Israeli occupation. Abul Haija has been in Israeli jails for nine years serving nine life sentences on a charge of his responsibility for a resistance operation that killed nine Israelis in August 2002.

Negev prisoners start hunger strike

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Seventy Palestinian prisoners who resided in northern West Bank towns launched an open hunger strike Tuesday demanding to be transferred to prisons close to their hometowns.

A Fatah spokesman in Israel's Negev prison said the prisoners’ families are forced to cross multiple checkpoints and go through "intense and humiliating" security checks and travel for hours to reach their loved ones.

Ashraf Zakarna the 70 Palestinian prisoners in the Beersheva, Nafha, and Rimon prisons are determined to reach their goals in order to ease the burden on their relatives.

The prisoners have filed a petition to Israel's supreme court to transfer them to prisons in the north, however, the court rejected their request, according to Zakarna.

The prisoners considered the rejection part of the Israeli prime minister’s new restrictions to punish detainees in an effort to secure a swap deal in exchange for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit, he said.

Rights group calls for release of Al-Bireh mayor's daughter

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian prisoners' rights group on Tuesday called for the release of Bushra Al-Tawil, the daughter of the mayor of Al-Bireh, who has been held by Israeli authorities for a month without charge.

Israeli forces arrested Al-Tawil, 18, on July 6, 2011 after a raid on her family home in Al-Bireh.

No explanation was given for her arrest, and more than a month later she has not been charged with any crime, human rights network for Palestinian prisoners UFree said.

"UFree believes that she was targeted for arrest by Israeli occupation forces because her father, Mr Jamal Al-Tawil is an elected mayor for Al-Bireh city in the West Bank.

"Family members of elected officials have been vulnerable to arrest due to the Israeli occupation policy of targeting families of elected Palestinian politicians as a means of applying political pressure," a statement said.

Bushra's mother, Muthanna Al-Tawil, was previously held in administrative detention for a full year, Ufree said.

Jamal Al-Tawil, the mayor of Al-Bireh, was detained by Israeli forces for several months under administrative detention during the first Intifada without being charged.

"UFree calls for the immediate expedition of Ms Al-Tawil's case and compensation for the psychological trauma they have been subject to throughout the ordeal."

Israeli courts have been delaying her case from being heard, Ufree added.

Administrative detention entails being detained without a trial or any charge.

Israel has held thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention in the past and the practice has been widely condemned by human rights groups.

Relatives of prisoners demand end to humiliating search

[ 12/06/2011 - 08:26 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Relatives of Palestinian prisoners appealed to human rights groups to demand an end to the Israeli strip and humiliating search of them while on their way to visit their next of kin. They charged the Israeli soldiers with deliberately delaying them at checkpoints. The relatives said that they are forced to pass through electronic gates, adding that doctors and specialists have warned that those gates emanate harmful rays that could lead to cancer. They said that they are screened for mobiles by taking naked photos of them. They charged that the searches were in violation of human rights and international agreements, urging the Red Cross to intervene and stop such practices.

PA: Israel detained prisoner's daughter during visit

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Guards at an Israeli prison detained a 13-year-old girl visiting her father, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Prisoners Affairs said Monday.

Prison guards detained Samah Majdi Musallam while she was visiting her father, who is serving a 13-year sentence in an Israeli prison in the Negev desert, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the girl was separated from her father by an iron mesh fence when guards rushed to detain her. She was accused of trying to smuggle something to her father, the statement said.

She was interrogated by Israeli police and tried at a court in Beersheva in southern Israel, the ministry added.

PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Qaraqe said the case was not unprecedented.

"Several times prisoners' relatives have been detained during visits under trivial pretexts. In fact family visits have become a means of punishment and humiliation," Qaraqe said.

Families of captives call for an end of strip searches

[ 20/05/2011 - 01:21 PM ] 
 

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Families of Palestinian captives in Israeli occupation jails called on local and international human rights organisations to pressure occupation authorities to end the policy of strip searching captives’ relatives during prison visits.

The families said that prison administrations deliberately insult captives and their families by insisting on thorough offensive searches to the extent of complete strip searches under the pretext of looking for mobile phones.

The families further called for popular protests similar to those marking the Nakba day in support of the captives and to pressure the occupation to stop its practices against them.

IPS refuses to free a Palestinian mother despite court order

[ 18/05/2011 - 10:26 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Israeli prison service (IPS) has refused to release a detained Palestinian mother of six despite a court order to the effect, the Ahrar center for prisoners' studies and human rights said. Fuad Al-Khafsh, the Ahrar director, added in a statement on Tuesday that Samha Hijaz, 37, was detained while on her way to visit her two detained brothers Yasser, who is serving a life sentence, and Hisham, who is serving 10 life sentences. He said that Samha, from the Ramallah village of Mazra Sharqiya, was detained on 8 February 2011 and charged with planning to smuggle mobile phones to her brothers. Samha categorically denied the charge but was kept by the Israeli intelligence in custody and was subjected to cruel interrogation rounds then taken to prison with homicide convicts before being transferred to Hasharon jail. Khafsh said that an Israeli military court decided last Sunday that Samha should be released but the IPS refused. The Ahrar director urged human rights groups and international organizations to demand the release of Samha without any further delay and let her return to her husband and six children.

Detainee released after 3 years in prison

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The Detainees Center in Ramallah reported Wednesday that Israel's prison administration released a man from Nablus after the end of his three-year term.

Baker Bilal, 46, was detained in May 2008, the center said, noting that he had reported being tortured for a period of two months.

Three of Bilal's brothers are also being held by Israeli forces, two serving 15-year sentences. His brother's wife, Nelly Safadi, is also detained at the Hasharon prison.

Mandela: IOA holds Palestinian woman in cell with homicide convicts

[ 03/03/2011 - 11:05 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Mandela institution catering for prisoners and human rights said that the IOA imprisoned Palestinian woman Samha Hijaz in one cell with Jewish homicide convicts before being transferred to Talmund jail. Lawyer Buthaina Dakmak of the institution said that Samha was arrested on 8/2/2011 after female conscripts found a mobile phone in her possession while on her way to visit her brother Yasser in Askalan jail. Two of Samha's brothers are held in Israeli detention the first Yasser is serving a life sentence while the other Hisham is serving ten life sentences.

Ministry of captives condemns PA summoning of captive's wife in Ramallah

[ 04/02/2011 - 09:06 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The ministry of captives in the Gaza Strip has strongly condemned the PA security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah for summoning wife of a Palestinian captive incarcerated in an Israeli occupation jail, describing such behavior as a stab in the back of the captives. The ministry added, in a statement it issued in this regard, that the PA security forces summoned Palestinian citizen Fatima Shaker Al-Ajrab, wife of Palestinian captive Hussein Yakoob Al-Ajrab who is under administrative detention in occupation jails since 18 months. He spent several periods in occupation jails totaling ten years. The ministry also explained that Mrs. Al-Ajrab was sick and suffered a stroke recently and described the summoning of her by the PA security as a "stab" in the back of the captives who sacrificed everything precious for their national issue and for the liberation of their country. In this concern, the ministry urged all legal institutions and human rights organizations to condemn the PA attitude, saying that at least 157 Palestinian citizens were arrested at the hands of the PA security apparatuses moments after they were released from Israeli jails.

Center: Detainee's wife banned from visits

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israel's prison administration has banned a detainee's wife from visits for one year because she refused to be strip-searched, a detainees' center said Thursday.

Mahmoud Al-Qawasmi's wife was accused of trying to smuggle a cell phone to her husband during a visit.

She denies the charge, and said she is banned because she refused to submit to a strip-search.

Al-Qawasmi was detained in 2004 and sentenced to 21 years accused of resisting the occupation.

Comrade Taghreed Abu Ghoulmeh released from Israeli prison after 6 months

PFLP website 

Comrade Taghreed Abu Ghoulmeh, sister of imprisoned comrades Linan and Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, was released after 6 months "administrative detention" in Israeli prison on January 2, 2011.

She had been arrested six months ago at her home in Beit Furik along with her sister Linan (who had been previously imprisoned and released as part of an agreement with the Palestinian resistance), and comrades Laith Abu Ghoulmeh, Mohammed Hanani, Hani Abu Soud and Musab Mlitat, who still await trial. 

Comrade Linan engaged in a hunger strike for over 20 days seeking contact with her sister; prison authorities rejected her request and released Taghreed without ever allowing her sister to see her. 

Earlier, on December 26, the Palestinian Prisoners Committee and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees in Nablus held an event in solidarity with Comrade Linan at the UPWC office, marking her hunger strike, which began on December 8, 2010. Comrade Maher Harb saluted the prisoners on the occasion of Christmas, and reviewed Linan's history, noting she had already spent six years in occupation jails and continued to confront the jailers, facing isolation, solitary confinement and constant threats to make the simplest of demands: to see her sister. He noted that other prisoners, particularly in Nafha, had undertaken actions and meetings in solidarity with Linan, and that prisoners have been recently been subject to frequent attacks and transfers from prison to prison, and emphasized the need for support of the prisoners and their families. 

Comrade Dr. Esmat Shakhshir of the UPWC emphasized the need to activate a popular solidarity movement with the prisoners to meet the prisoners' level of struggle and national commitment.

Israeli Forces Stormed Palestinian MP House

Wednesday December 15, 2010 14:39 by Alessandra Bajec - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli soldiers raided, on Tuesday, the house of Palestinian MP Halaika in Hebron, the Palestinian Information Center claimed.

(photo from Press TV)

Hamas lawmaker Samira al-Halaika said Israeli military raided the house at noon on Tuesday in the district of Shuyukh, in Hebron, erected a barrier in front of her house and stopped tens of cars questioning all people inside.

MP Halaika further reported that the Israeli army arrived in four vehicles breaking into her house, and gathered her along with her son Osama. One soldier told Halaika that they came to tell her "Happy Eid", however the lawmaker rejected the wishes replying that it was not Eid and that it was a provocative move.

Last month, Israeli forces raided Halaika's house overnight, locked up her family members in one room and abducted her eldest son Anas. The Hamas politician warned she would hold Israel responsible for any consequences that might affect her son.

The preventive security of the Ramallah authority summoned, on Monday and Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinians in Hebron including MP Halaika' s husband on the 23rd anniversary of the founding of Hamas. Her son Anas is still held captive for the 34th day in Jalama interrogation center.

Local sources estimate over 11,500 Palestinians are currently detained in Israeli jails under harsh conditions. Overall, 270 of the detainees are under the age of 18 and 33 of them are women.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners, almost half of the 315 prisoners arrested before the Oslo Agreement have been in Israeli jails for more than 20 years.

Report: “280 Palestinians, Including 43 Children and Three Women, Kidnapped In November”

Sunday December 05, 2010 04:35 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Higher Committee for Supporting the Detainees stated that Israeli soldiers kidnapped in November 280 Palestinians, including 43 children and three women, in several areas in the occupied West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.

Two of the kidnapped residents are elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The two are Nayef Rajoub from Hebron, and Mahmoud Al Ramahi from Ramallah.

The Committee stated that soldiers kidnapped a 55-year-old woman identified as Shaheera Borqan, from Hebron. It considered the kidnapping of Borqan as an Israeli illegal policy meant to blackmail her two detained sons.

Furthermore, soldiers kidnapped Abdul-Qader Masalma, 45, from Hebron, despite the fact the he is paralyzed due to extreme torture practiced by Israeli interrogators during a previous arrest; he spent seven years in prison.

Last month, soldiers released legislator Ayman Daraghma after he spent 20 months in administrative detention without charges or trial.

In related news, soldiers broke into the Al Ramla Prison Hospital, were 25 detainees are hospitalized, and searched it under the guise of searching for communication equipment.

Also, soldiers violently attacked and hit detainee Somoud Karaja, leaving her suffering from several bruises and concussions.

Referring to the health conditions of several sick detainees, the report revealed that detainee Mohammad Al Saleeby, 62, had to be transferred from Majiddo Prison to the Al Affoula hospital due to the seriousness of his condition.

Detainee Imad Al Masry, from Aqaba town near Jenin, is in urgent need for medical
attention as he suffers a kidney disease, sharp pain in his spine, right hand and teeth. The prison Administration is denying him the right to medical treatment.
Several detainees contracted a skin disease in a number of detention centers but were not provided with any medical treatment.

Furthermore, the Prison Administration is denying Chemotherapy to detainee Suleiman Al Saady, 41, from the Jenin refugee camp.

Meanwhile, the detainees in Shatta prison refused their visitation rights as the soldiers insisted to cuff and shackle them during visitation time.

Soldiers at the Ramon Prison attacked the families of several detainees injuring the wife of detainee Ala’ Qfeisha, and the mother of detainee Lo’ay Qfeisha.

Detainees at the Nafha Prison held a one-day hunger strike to protest repeated attacks and searches to their rooms.

Detainee Shadi Abu Al Hasseen declared he is resuming his hunger strike until his release, especially since he ended his 7-year term but was never released.

Detainee Jamal Abu Al Haija, a Hamas leader in solitary confinement at the Ayalon Prison, and detainee Aahed Ghalama, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, started a hunger strike demanding better living conditions, and visitation rights.

Detainees in all solitary sections at the Al Jalama prison conducted a hunger strike demanding an end to their solitary confinement that started three months ago.

There are more than 8000 detainees, including hundreds of children and women, imprisoned by Israel. At least 27 of them were kidnapped and imprisoned more than 25 years ago.

Palestinian Woman Abducted While Visiting Detained Brother

Wednesday December 01, 2010 05:03 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian sources reported that resident Miriam al-Hour was abducted by the Israeli soldiers, on Monday, while visiting her detained brother, Jamal al-Hour, at the Nafha Israeli prison.

File - Soldiers Kidnapping a Palestinian Woman

Jamal al-Hour is a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement. He is serving a life sentence.

The Prison Administration claimed that Miriam tried to smuggle a Palestinian Jawwal cell phone SIM card to her detained brother.

Her family denied the Israeli claim, denounced the arrest and demanded Israel to release her immediately.

Jamal al-Hour was abducted after a suicide bombing targeted a restaurant in Tel Aviv in 1997. Several Israelis along with the bomber, Mousa Ghneimat, were killed.

Al-Hour is also believed to be behind the abducting and the killing of Sharon Edri, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped and killed seven months before the cell was arrested.

On Monday evening, detainees at the Nafha Prison stated that tension is rising at the prison especially after the soldiers abducted Miriam and later on attacked several detainees and their parents during visitation.

Head of the Bethlehem Branch of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Abdul-Fattah Khalil, stated that the prison administration cut water and power supplies to punish the detainees.

Comrades Ahed and Linan Abu Ghoulmeh face isolation and repression in the occupation jails

 PFLP website

Comrade Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, imprisoned and in isolation, was transferred on October 29, 2010 to the isolation sector of the Ramle prison by the occupation authorities, while his sister, Comrade Linan Abu Ghoulmeh, entered the sixth day of her own hunger strike against the occupation prison authorities.

Abu Ghoulmeh, who was accused by the occupation of being the leader of the Abu Ali Mustafa, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the West Bank, was abducted along with Comrade Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the PFLP, from the Palestinian Authority's Jericho prison on March 14, 2006, where they had been held under US and British guard. He has been in isolation since January 14, 2010 and prohibited from family visits, including visits with his parents.

He is now being held in isolation with Sheikh Jamal Abu Al-Hija, to whose family Comrade Wafa Abu Ghoulmeh, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh's wife, paid a solidarity visit during the week of action for Ahmad Sa'adat in mid-October. Wafa Abu Ghoulmeh said that "the occupation practices repression and racism against detainees, which is aimed to break their will and prevent them from exercising their human and national rights." She commented that these efforts inevitably fail in the face of the prisoners' steadfastness and defiance of Zionism and racism.

She called for intensified efforts to expose abuses of Palestinian prisoners, particularly those in isolation, praising the efforts of the campaign in solidarity with Comrade Sa'adat that organized numerous events and activities throughout Palestine and around the world, and saying that solidarity with a leader like Ahmad Sa'adat, of a national caliber, is solidarity with all prisoners, including her husband.

Comrade Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh's sisters, Comrades Linan and Taghreed Abu Ghoulmeh, are also imprisoned in occupation jails. Comrade Linan is currently on hunger strike protesting her separation from her sister. She has been on hunger strike for six days in Hasharon prison in protest of the administration's refusal to respond to her demands to be held in the same prison as Taghreed. Another prisoner, Nada Tawir, joined in the hunger strike with Linan, demanding the release of the Abu Ghoulmeh sisters.

The Union of Palestinian Women's Committees issued a statement condemning the crimes of Zionism against Palestinian prisoners, particularly Palestinian women prisoners. They declared that the occupation is responsible for the life of Linan Abu Ghoulmeh and denounced the targeting of her family. In addition to her brother and sister's imprisonment, she is the widow of Comrade martyr Amjad Mleitat, who was assassinated by the occupation authorities in Nablus.

She had previously been held for six years in the occupation prisons and was abducted and placed under administrative detention less than five months after her release. The UPWC called upon the international women's movement, feminist and human rights organizations, to pay attention to the struggle of Palestinian prisoners, particularly women prisoners, and defend their rights.

Radwan: Nothing new concerning prisoners exchange deal

[ 27/10/2010 - 10:23 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader, has denied any new progress regarding the prisoners' exchange deal between Israel and the captors of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Gaza. He called for more steadfastness to restore Palestinian prisoners' rights, adding in a press release on Tuesday evening that the so-called freeze on the Shalit law is the result of those prisoners' struggle and resoluteness. Meanwhile, relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Tulkarem district urged the Red Cross to immediately and seriously intervene to halt the Israeli occupation soldiers' practices against them at the Teyba roadblock. They held a protest sit-in on Tuesday against the strip searches and humiliation of the Palestinian relatives. One of the mothers of prisoners said she was forced last Sunday while en route to visit her son to take off her headscarf and external garment to be searched by a female conscript. Another mother said that after crossing the road barrier they are forced to walk a long distance to reach the busses, which affect the health condition of those suffering chronic diseases, adding that she suffers from diabetes, hypertension, and heart ailment.